Matthew's account says, "Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side" (Matthew 14:22). As they were rowing across the sea, a strong wind kicked up and the seas became very rough. Did Jesus know a storm was waiting for them? Yes, and He sent them right into the middle of it. But He would use it for their benefit. The first thing we can learn from this story is that God allows storms in our lives.
While some conflict is the result of our poor choices, many times God allows storms even though we have done nothing to "deserve" them. But the good news is that, as a Christian, you will learn from these inevitable storms and experience God's faithfulness through them. God allows trials, hardship, and pain in our lives to accomplish His purposes. God never does anything in vain. The second thing we learn from this story is that nothing escapes God's attention. We may lose sight of Him, but He never loses sight of us. The disciples may have wondered, "Where is He?" But He was watching their every move. Mark 6:48 says, "Then He saw them straining at rowing .
" Jesus never lost sight of the disciples, even though He was on the mountain and they were on the sea. When you face storms in your life, it may feel like you are all alone and no one sees you. But God sees you. The third thing we learn is that Jesus helps us in our storms. Verse 19 tells us that they were rowing a long time and then they saw Jesus walking on the water toward them. Matthew 14:25 says that Jesus came to them during the fourth watch of the night, which was the time just before dawn. That means the disciples had been at sea for at least nine hours.
This just goes to show that God's delays are not necessarily God's denials. Jesus knew what He was doing; in His timing He came to their aid. Jesus said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid!" In our storms, Jesus says essentially the same thing: "Don't be afraid, I'm here." And if you will "willingly receive Him into the boat" (verse 21), He will safely guide you to the other side. Jesus can and will help you through the storms of your life. John 6:15-21 No one goes through life without experiencing a storm. We have come upon the storm season with spring upon us now, but the storms that we will be talking about in this sermon are not the storms of nature, but rather the storms of life.
These storms threaten our entire state of well being. The storm takes many different forms, and affects our lives in many different ways, but all storms contain some common elements: they usually come on rather suddenly, they take us by surprise, they tend to fill our hearts with fear, they test our faith, and it is to be hoped that they cause us to cry out to our Lord and Savior for help. If so, then the storms of life become building blocks of faith which actually equip us for the storms which are yet to come.
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